What’s Going On With Atelier Developer Gust?

Atelier developer Gust was acquired by Tecmo Koei and, starting with Atelier Ayesha, they have been handling all of their games. The transition with Atelier Ayesha was rocky in the West with the lack of Japanese voiceovers and miscommunication by Tecmo Koei Europe.

However, it seems Tecmo Koei is planning on putting more effort on promoting the Atelier series in the future, since Atelier Meruru Plus: The Apprentice of Arland was shown in their booth instead of being a surprise PlayStation Network release.

We asked Hisashi Koinuma, Executive Vice President of Temco Koei, what their plans are for Gust and how they fit into the company.

“Gust is is a subsidiary of Tecmo Koei now. Basically, they will continue to do what they have been doing up until now,” he replied. “We aren’t going to change their focus. We’ll have them continue the Atelier series and at the same time we will give them opportunities they may not have had on their own.”

“Also, Gust has access to the technologies we’ve been working on. Hopefully, those technical elements and middleware will help them while they are developing games.”

When you say Atelier Meruru was shown at their booth, do you mean Meruru+? Is it on Vita?

Ladius

Yeah, it’s going to be released in the west in September.

Kevadu

I wonder if the increased promotion means there’s actually a chance of getting a physical release…

Ladius

I think that would be extremely unlikely. I have seen some supposed NPD leaks about the Atelier games (and I’m talking about PS3 titles, with a far larger base), and their sales are niche even for niche jrpgs standards.

On that subject, I really hope the boycott against Ayesha didn’t damage the chance for E/L to be released :

I doubt the “boycott” really affected the overall sales that much… I’d say there’s been just as much buys from new players who just saw it on PSN as there’s been ppl who didn’t buy it because of the missing JP audio. I doubt they’d even bother releasing Meruru+ over here, if Ayesha’s & the Totori+ sales would have been too horrible.

Ladius

I really hope that’s the case, I tend to worry when I see this kind of situations in really niche series like Atelier, especially when boycotts could endanger the series’ very survival. If you sell millions of copies the vocal minority can’t do much to damage you, but Atelier games in the west apparently are in the 15-25k range.

I’m still wary on Tecmo being in control of them, since to me the companies couldn’t be more different. Gust has been a very progressive company when it comes to their depictions of women: Having them carry entire games on their own in the Atelier series, and openly mocking their exploitation as fanservice in Ar Tonelico. Tecmo, meanwhile, views women as “those things boobs are attached to.”

So yeah… If the next Atelier game contains jiggle physics, it’ll be obvious who’s at fault.

wererat42

Well, Ayesha had all of the female characters being pretty strong and
independent (possibly even more so than past Atelier games). And I think
that they were under Temco when they made that.

puchinri

Agreed. It’s a bit worrisome, and while Ayesha gives me some hope, I suppose the fact that we couldn’t have two female protags for Eschatology is a bit side-eye. I feel like Tecmo may be sincere in leaving Gust be, but at the same time, I feel like I’ll be trying to discern what may be a cause of Tecmo’s new ownership and simply just Gust.

Kevadu

Come on, we got four games in a row with a female protagonist. While I do think it’s a good thing that Gust is willing to do that, it’s not like I think *every* game needs to have only a female protagonist. Honestly, Escha and Logy looks like a nice change of pace.

Flandre Scarlet

With the exception of Iris and Mana Khemia, Atelier was for the longest time one of the only series with a female MC and only a female MC. In recent years that’s changed a bit but it was refreshing when ever other JRPG on the market featured a male protagonist.

I think a lot of people forget that before Iris came overseas there was 5 mainline games and several spinoffs with just the typical female Alchemist MC. Hell, Rorona was Atelier moving back to its roots after the abysmal sales of MK and Iris in Japan.

Personally I’m very adverse to Escha and Logy but I know I’m in the minority if the number of people here screaming for MK3 are anything to consider.

Kevadu

So you’re saying that just because they started out doing female protagonists they have to do them forever? I haven’t forgotten Gust’s history. But they still have every right to try different things. Doing one game with both male and female protagonists doesn’t mean they’ll stop doing female protagonists forever.

Flandre Scarlet

You’re taking things way out of context and twisting my words around. I’d like for a series that is iconic for using female protagonists to stay that way, especially after they already experimented with going a more regular RPG route and failed. Atelier has always been one of the few JRPGs I played that let you use a female protagonist and wasn’t about serious things like saving the world, being a great hero or anything like that. It was just about an alchemist girl, her friends, and her little adventure.

They’re experimenting again with Eschalogy and while I can guarantee you that it will be more popular in the West (the only region where Iris and MK did reasonably well) I can’t say the same for Japan. The market for regular old JRPGs like what half of Eschalogy will be is saturated…same reason why I believe Fairy Fencer F will suffer.

But Escha is female and will have non-epic slice of life events… so what exactly is your point? I mean, you don’t have to play Logy’s more RPG’ish side of things. They use one game to cater to TWO fanbases, If you hated Iris & MK, Logy’s side of things is probably not for you and if you hated the Arland series / Annie / the Playstation 1&2 titles, then Escha’s side of things might not be your cup of tea. I’m still a little sceptical as how well this will play out, but you kinda sound like a grumpy fan-being who’s just pissed they don’t get the same old stuff as always. And I fear, the only reason this might fail, is because of fans who can’t accept alien elements in “their” traditional Atelier title. Just like how regular-RPG players always whine about the traditional Atelier format because it’s not exactly like the generic RPGs they are used to.

I have no idea why Atelier & standard RPG fans can’t get along. I love both styles and don’t get along with most of either fanbases. ;D

Ladius

If you reread your own post, you will notice that Gust is simply following the same cycle we already saw in the past Atelier games.

E/L is far more balanced than the Iris games and MK1 were in terms of giving the same relevance to its female and male characters, too, and Ayesha and E/L are far less fanservicey than the Arland trilogy was.

I really think blaming (or praising) TK for what Gust is doing makes little sense when all things point to them being the same as always.

Flandre Scarlet

It’s very odd since the entire reason they went back to their roots with Rorona and built on it with the Arland series and Ayesha was because Iris and MK did horribly. For them to suddenly do a complete 180º right after Ayesha and start pushing Mana Khemia REALLY hard and throw a male MC back into Atelier out of nowhere is kinda strange.

Ladius

I think things are different than that, though: Ayesha, while being superficially similar to the Arland trilogy, had lots of mysterious plotlines that were mostly unexplored in the first game, and created a great setup for a sequel with a more traditional jrpg story.

I believed they were going this route even before they announced E/L, and having a duo of leads to convey both a traditional slice of life story and one more focused with the darker sides of the Dusk world is a fitting continuation to Ayesha’s different themes.

Also, the fact that they went back to the series’ root with the Arland trilogy doesn’t mean they were thinking to stick with that forever, nor E/L means they won’t return to a more traditional Atelier setup with the next trilogy.

Sticking with one formula forever wouldn’t really be very progressive either. I love change, it’s new and exciting, even if a little scary sometimes. Not moving forward and sticking to the same old stuff – isn’t that what everyone and their mother keeps bitching about? They all want new stuff, but when new stuff gets delivered everyone’s like: “Eww, it’s not like the last one!”

Seriously.

But I completely agree with you, I think this was planned since a while and I’m insanely curious to see how everything plays out in E&L! *_*

I think it does have some effect if fans permanently tell you, which games they’d like to see again.

Also – just because something sold horribly, it doesn’t mean the devs aren’t attached to the game, it might even be the game they love most of all their creations, so of course they’d jump at any chance to bring it back to life in some way or another. Not saying this is the case here, but it’s one possibility you should consider as well. ^^

puchinri

This. I kind of like points of Escha and Logy, but I’m disappointed that of the recent first chances we get with dual protags, they couldn’t do two female protags. That would be even more special and rare.

While I think that would be cool too, something I already said in one of the earlier related news titles as well, I’ve changed my mind a little.

I mean, how do you feel about being forced to play as a guy? I don’t really like it. Now imagine, a game from a series you enjoy quite a bit introduces multiple protagonists… now that would get me excited, up until the point where they announce that I can choose between two male protagonists. Yeah….

Giving players choice is always nice, but giving them the choice of gender, so they can choose the one they most likely identify themselves with… I prefer that. :)

puchinri

I’m kind of torn. I mean, in one way, I feel like they kind of have given male audiences that space already (since there are atelier games with male leads), and given this is the one series where female audiences get to enjoy a female protag with (generally less) fanservice to boot? Well, it’d be pretty cool to see two female protags, since that just hasn’t been done.

It is nice when they give people a choice, but at the same time, male audiences already have the scales way tipped in their favor with choices (maybe not with this series, but even amongst Gust titles there are other games that feature a male lead and even kind of cater to the male audience harder than the Atelier games cater to the female audience).

Why are you so adverse to a game that uses improved mechanics, graphics and even adds a second, completely optional character. Even if he is male. I’m always the one to be all “meh” if there’s only a male protagonist to play, so why force anyone who’d prefer playing a male to play a girl? If bringing in the one thing doesn’t mean taking out the other, what is there to fear for you?

You’ll get a traditional Atelier game, with Escha as your protagonist. If you hate playing a male so much, just don’t do it. But I personally love having the option.

puchinri

Well, it’s not just four games in a row. It’s also a bit iconic/traditional for the series now. I don’t mind having male protags, but this is pretty much the one series where it’s started with a female protag and continued that (and has done well with it). Also, Gust has other series where they do focus on male characters. It just struck me as odd timing.

Seeing how this game is so closely tied to MK in many ways (like how they add that digital version of MK2 to the first print edition), it feels to me like they want to either revive the series or merge it completely with Atelier, it would make a lot of sense as MK emerged from Atelier and the second game of that series was the first to introduce a choice between a female or male protagonist. I dunno, I feel like they want to take the best of both worlds and hopefully create a game that pleases both their fanbases. I don’t think the timing is odd in any way. Surviving in the video game business means you need to adapt quickly and I think Gust are fully aware of their split fanbase.

It’s also pretty boring to make the same game over and over again. ^^

puchinri

I don’t think merging them would be productive or helpful really. If anything, it’d be smarter to make a Mana Khemia game alongside an Atelier game. They don’t need to come out at the exact same time, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep them separate; after all, the appeal does lie in a few different places with both.

Also, as Flandre Scarlet pointed out, MK didn’t do so hot in Japan in the end, right? I don’t think it’d be wise to make the older and larger fanbase compromise to appease a smaller, younger fanbase. It’s smarter to cater to both in their separate ways.

I do believe that Gust needn’t let either series get stagnant though, and I do think they try to change up the formula quite a bit with Atelier (in smaller and larger ways), but I don’t think they need to make significant/huge changes, because they have a basic formula that works and that many fans (in Japan and outside) have come to love.

supervamp

Actually i wish atlier at least took some notes from it’s action cousins, it’s nice and light which is good but i’d like to see a more serious game.Playing totori i got hung up on the fact that pretty much a lot of the characters were copy and past personalities with some tweaks while it created funny scenes it didn’t really make for the most feel creating game.

Flandre Scarlet

The cynical side of me says Escha and Logy along with the recent uprising of Mana Khemia suggests TK may already be influencing them.

Ladius

I’m sorry, but I fail to see why we should see Gust retrying something they already did no less than five times in the PS2 days as TK influencing them. The AyeshaEL series is far less fanservicey than the Arland trilogy, too.

Flandre Scarlet

Hey, that was the cynical side of me. Didn’t say anything about the logical side.

Kevadu

Ar Tonelico was supposed to be progressive? Are you kidding me?

Spirit Macardi

I’m guessing you missed the parts in the Cosmospheres where it took cliche fanservice personalities and turned them insanely creepy. Or the fact that panty shots of Mute in Qoga were only shown when she was in her uber-masculine form. Or the numerous times the games pretty much outright said “if you jerk off to this, you’re a freak.”

Honestly I’m surprised the games didn’t have a feature where they take pictures of the players wanking it and e-mail them to their grandmothers.

Kevadu

Hey, I like the games (well, at least the first two). There were some genuinely interesting story bits and I still like the whole idea of diving into a persons subconscious and exploring some of the darker aspects of human nature. And hey, sex is a big part of human nature. It’s going to come up.

But let’s not kid ourselves, these games were loaded with fanservice that really was nothing but fanservice. It *is* actually possible to have both an interesting story and fanservice (maybe not super common in games, but I can point to a number of mangas that do it), but that doesn’t change the fact that fanservice is fanservice. Saying you can tolerate it is one thing. Trying to pretend that it was done ironically and it’s actually a progressive work is another…having to watch a bathing scene every time you leveled up your revytails in AT2 was so progressive.

Also, Mute was largely a gag character so I’m not sure what the fact that she was used for gags is supposed to prove…

aquagon

Being honest, and keeping in mind how immersed I’ve gotten into the game’s world, I’d rather have the bathing mechanic to strengthen the Reyvateils than to force them undergo the horrible pain caused by Installs.

And besides, the Dualstall system was invented in-universe due to the respect the people of Metafalss have for the Reyvateils and their wishes for them to be able to get stronger without suffering. Out-universe, Tsuchiya pretty much said that this was inspired by the public baths/onsen that are so ubiquitous at Japan. Plus, it gave him a great chance for the girls to interact with each other by being a massive source of Synchro Topics due to their habits in the bathtub and their reactions to the items that could be placed in it.

supervamp

Dude you might be able to justify it game world but that does not change the huge innuendo everything in that world created.

aquagon

And does the mere presence of innuendo null out the enormous depth of the worldbuilding present in the series? I don’t think so. And if you’re saying that even matters like Wave Science, the Hymmnos language itself or the songs also have innuendo, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t disagree with you more.

supervamp

No but the point the person was trying to make was that ar toncelia was progressive towards the ideas of how women should be treated but actively ignore the huge innuendo in the world. If your gonna say that any kind of fanservice or innuendo is the bane of any woman’s existence then you can’t say that a game with heavy innudeno and fan service is progressive.

Fiora

Ar Tonelico isn’t really a Gust game; Gust just does the engine and gives some programming assistance to Banpresto. That’s why the games come off so differently in terms of female characters; for practical purposes they’re by completely different developers.

I have really high hopes for future Gust games though. Ayesha is basically close to being my all-time-favorite JRPG at this point, and if they keep moving in this direction it’s only going to get better.

Kevadu

Given that game engines and programming is probably Gust’s single weakest area, why would any third party hire Gust to do a game engine and programming for them?

I don’t know the specifics of the Gust-Banpresto relationship, but even so I strongly suspect you are mistaken. Pretty sure Gust was involved in the project on pretty much every level. But if you know something I don’t then please give me a link or something.

Ladius

Glad to see some love for Ayesha, it was a fantastic game with one of the best jrpg soundtracks I have heard this gen. I can’t wait to see more of its world in E/L.

Did you listen to the sample tracks on the website? E&L’s soundtrack will be so awesome. *__*

Ladius

Yes, I can’t wait to hear it in game :)

Anime10121

That was an awesome track! I started out not caring much for Ayesha, but recently finished it, and my opinion of the game went up drastically :)

aquagon

According to interviews, most of Banpresto’s collaboration was the Dive system and Talk Topic systems, while the rest of the game pretty much runs off a modified engine from Atelier Iris (Ar tonelico 1), Mana Khemia (Ar tonelico 2) and Atelier Rorona (Artonelico 3). Additionally, all of the characters were actually straight from Akira Tsuchiya’s (Gust) head, with the Banpresto side only giving them some extra bits of development

Tenno Seremel

Just came here to say that you are awesome person (^. ^)

aquagon

Thanks a lot. ^^
That kind of support is what always fuels me to continue working in the translation projects for the Ar tonelico series.

Andar

I’m a huge fan of the Ar Tonelico series, but every time, Aquagon’s knowledge puts me to shame. That said, it’s awesome to have someone like you around.

Well, technically, the jiggle physics are kinda there already…
Just look at Melvia’s victory pose in Totori.
I guess it’s not to the extent as other KT franchises, but hey, not all jiggles are created equal!

Ladius

Yeah, it seems a bit bizarre to blame any fanservice in the Atelier series to Tecmo Koei when the post-merge Atelier are actually far less fanservicey than the ones developed before.

I’m glad to see you back on Siliconera, too, and I hope NISA will continue working on the series in the future :) It would be awesome to see the Ayesha partnership improving in order to have you and TK giving those games even more love.

supervamp

Yes because jiggle physics negate a characters personality and importance towards the story you know for people who use that argument they tend to look more at the ascetics of a character instead of the overall. Seems a bit hypocritical to me

What’s wrong with jiggly boobs? Not trying to defend that sexist video game community, that likes to portrait us women as sex-objects, but seriously…. boobs do wobble around in real life, so seeing them wobble in a game does neither offend me nor annoy me in any way – I was actually plenty of amused when DoA introduced super jiggly boob physics back whenever. And I don’t see anything wrong with using such physics when they fit (like, you know, for any character that isn’t an A cup for example).

And as mentioned before, they already had jiggly boob animations for some of their characters in the pre-KT era.

I also don’t really think Tecmo actually views women as “those things boobs are attached to” – they just know that their main target audience (Male, 13-30) loves that kind of stuff. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t love boobs? Even we girls do love them. Everyone does. :P

In this particular case KT seems to be mainly acting as a publisher, letting Gust do their thing, while providing them with neccessary resources, I believe that’s actually the best thing that can happen to a small indie development company. So I’m very much looking forward to their future titles… and from what we’ve seen so far of Escha & Logy, things seem to be getting awesome. :D

Ouch My Head Said Dionysus

You really think Ar Tonelico is a deep satire of fan-service?

I’m not trying to be rude, I’m genuinely interested, because I see those games as fairly skeezy. Not as skeezy as Dead or Alive, but still skeezy enough to be embarrassed. Maybe I’m missing something?

For example, I found No More Heroes to be quite a well-done and biting satire on fanservice.

psycho_bandaid

When your previous effort at advertising was literally no effort at all, it is pretty easy to exceed that. I guess I’m still a bit salty, but forgive me if I am not too keen on how they are handling the series.

Ladius

I was really bitter about their mistreatment of Ayesha and Totori Plus, but at least they’re improving and trying to bring every single Atelier game to the west, which is great considering in the past we weren’t able to get any handheld Atelier (aside from Annie).

I really hope they will continue their partnership with NISA for the upcoming Atelier games, it’s very important to ensure a consistent localization quality.

Flandre Scarlet

From what little NISA has given information wise it’s unlikely they will. TK has it’s own localization division and they would be very unlikely to share the profits if they can avoid it, which they certainly can. I think it’s safe to say NISA’s lost Atelier for good…which isn’t wholly a bad thing. NISA’s localization quality of non-NIS titles in recent years has gotten pretty low.

I’d be actually glad if NISA wouldn’t handle the localisation anymore. Their quality control is terrible, I can’t remember playing a NISA game without encountering any spelling errors (tho who knows if it wasn’t KT in charge of Ayesha’s QC). :/

Yeah me neither, I mean ^%$# KT, seriously. It was nice seeing the NA opening for Ayesha show the japanese voice actors names for a game that does not contain them… way to go KT, way to &^%$’n go.

/delayed sarcastic clap

Alexander Marquis Starkey

That was a localization error by NISA most likely.

Prinny Dood

I wonder if they will ever do a mana khemia hd collection, or mana khemia 3 :/

Ladius

E/L has many of the traits people loved in the MK games, while still preserving the series’ simulation heritage and atmosphere by avoiding the school sim part. The fact they’re pushing it by re-releasing MK2 makes this rather obvious on their part.

$40956955

But the school sim part is what made mana khemai unique in this series

Frii

Atelier Musou? Atelier Musou!

Ladius

Becoming the terror of the Puni race with Flay or slaying hundreds of slags with Keithgriff or Sterk would actually be awesome, but they would need to keep the Atelier art direction. Imagining Atelier characteres rendered in the Warriors style makes me cringe a bit (and I love Musou :P).

PoweredByHentai

I would totally play this. XD

Virevolte

I don’t know anything about that business but… a little influence could be good, too. People tend to want to improve themselves.

Ladius

Cool to see they’re respecting Gust’s heritage, I think Ayesha and Escha&Logy are a big step for the series in terms of art direction and atmosphere, and I hope they can promote E&L in the west far better than they did with Ayesha (I guess they still weren’t ready, especially since it was the first main Atelier game released after the merge).

puchinri

Honestly, Arland felt like Gust going back to their roots at the very basics, and Ayesha felt like them going back to their roots in an aesthetic sense to me; so Ayesha and E&L don’t feel like a big step in terms of art direction or atmosphere – it just feels like the first three games again.

It is interesting how they’ve progressed to harkening back to tradition in some ways though.

Right now, it’s a little hard to have faith in TK to actually push Atelier in the West given they did zero damage control after everything (and not much now), but I do hope they start to treat the series well here.

And with the first three games you mean the Salburg triology? But but… those were 2D titles to start with.. and especially Elie & Marie had this oldish German town feeling. Isn’t Salburg even loosely based on Salzburg (architecture wise)? But with the atmosphere I agree. But art-wise Ayesha got a very different feel to me, tho maybe the colour-scheme might be similar..ish. XD

Ladius

Ayesha was only superficially similar to traditional Atelier games though, it was less focused on its simulation mechanics and more interested in providing a setting with lots of interesting themes that were obviously destined to be explored in a later game, a game that would have to distance itself from the slice of life narrative at least partially in order to reach its full potential.

Also, I think Hidari’s art direction really set Ayesha and E&L apart from the rest of the series, not in terms of general aesthetic themes (those were pretty consistent even in the Arland games), but in terms of artistic quality and overall appeal (I think you will agree on Kishida being far more polarizing, despite his skills). Also, the comparison with old Atelier games is impaired by the series’ graphical progress: Atelier was an extremely low budget series till the end of the PS2 age, while nowadays it sports some of the most beautiful and impressive character model in anime-style jrpgs and could actually attract new fans just by releasing some screenshots.

Even in terms of gameplay, Ayesha was far more forgiving than traditional simulation Atelier games, and E&L should provide a variety of system to please both traditional fans and jrpg players that never gave Atelier a chance. I’m not saying it would be a huge commercial success (mostly because of marketing and factors like the Atelier brand being too strongly associated with some divisive factors, especially on PS3), but I don’t think it’s fair to say there hasn’t been an effort to improve and modernize the series’ key traits while picking up features from both the traditional games and MK2.

puchinri

But that’s what I mean. Rorona may have been the gameplay aspect, but Ayesha was very much so the tonal and aesthetic return to the classic titles. (Even in some of the shipteases actually, which is funny.)

If anything, E&L is just continuing where Ayesha left in a return to the aesthetic and to a point the atmospheric quality of the older games. Also, I think to a point, E&L and Ayesha are both similar to the two games after Marie (because while still slice of life, they had interesting, mature elements and Ayesha especially mirrors that). I think we sometimes forget how much potential also lies in something that is slice of life and that some devs/creators (not just game devs obviously) do tap into that; which I greatly appreciate.

I think Hidari’s art style is very nostalgic while fresh. To me, it has the same charm of M&E’s art style, while feeling more “modern.” It’s not that it’s hugely set apart, but it’s a wonderful bridge to something new while still being comfortable to someone familiar with the older art styles. The graphics have nothing to do with it to an extent, it really goes back to the basic aesthetic quality.

I understand what you’re saying, and really, I never said or don’t think that the series hasn’t been trying to modernize itself. Quite the contrary, I think it’s done a splendid job of that. I just think that they’ve managed to do what few can in that while they’ve transitioned well, they’ve also picked up on and carried qualities that made the roots of the series shine and carry on. That’s pretty nice, and I think it’s worthwhile to keep going.

Aristides

As long as Tecmo keeps pushing the Vita in the west I’m game (Just please guys, dont screw it up)

HPN

GUST: I own over half a dozen of the Atelier games. The last one? I didn’t buy. Why? No JP CV! Get the message?

Ladius

Trying to get a point across using a boycott could result in TK and Gust getting a different message, especially when the series is already extremey niche outside Japan even compared to other lesser known jrpg series.

I can only hope this kind of reactions made TK reconsider their stance on dual audio rather than making them skip localizing Escha & Logy altogether.

Slayven19

The game didn’t sell bad tho even with you doing a boycott. Get the message? I’ll help you vocal minority!

chobitsza

I want the new ip with Ar tonelico-like please.

Kai2591

Hear hear!
I second that.

aquagon

We have Ciel Nosurge already for that. We just have to wait until anyone decides to localize it (unlikely) or wait until they produce a RPG that takes place on that same world.

Kai2591

True. But I’m just not sure I will enjoy a pure communication game (or visual novel types) with no battles or RPG elements whatsoever…What I really want is the whole package: JRPG with battles and all and date-sim/communication features – much like Ar Tonelico.

An RPG that takes place in the same world of Ciel no Surge would be welcomed :)
I remember Gust saying they might expand the world in other genres/platforms. So looking forward to that.

Anime10121

Yep, enjoyed Ar Tonelico FAR more than the Atelier games, though at the least, the Atelier games are becoming a bit better with each entry (I’ve only played Rorona and Ayesha).

Philip Irwin

Just make Mana Khemia 3 already.

Rogerrmark

Do you guys think Gust will make an exception and will continue to develop the Dusk series further,instead of just making a 2-part story?

Aparently,the director didn’t like the way Ayesha’s story progressed,because of the lack of the ”Dusk”,according to him.

I LOVED Ayesha as it featured some nice new mechanics,and improved stuff presented on Arland trilogy,however the story felt undeveloped and didn’t ”click” to me like Totori/Meruru/both Mana Khemias. Yeah,I know Atelier isn’t about story,but on this game,I just felt the pace got lost somewhere before the ending,dunno…

The universe seemed pretty rich and serious,though,and I’m happy they’re developing E/L.That’s why I would love part 3(and,who knows,even part 4) because I kinda doubt E/L will be enough to detail the whole Dusk series and it’s more serious background. :x

Just opinion,though.

aquagon

Considering their Atelier pattern of 3-2-3-2, I don’t think so.

Ladius

We don’t know if it’s a pattern they want to keep, though. Personally I think the Dusk world has lots of potential, and depending on what they do with E&L I would like for them to revisit it at least once more.

The last Ar tonelico game wasn’t that good so maybe they should have helped them with that game.

aquagon

At the least it brought full closure to the series and left some additional material to be used in the Toukousphere, novels, drama CDs and the Kurt Hymneth boxset. I also have to say that it was the best attempt they made at integrating the worldbuilding into the game, which in the previous entries was mostly left confined to the material books.

Theofratus ‘Geese’ Lester

My only comment will be:

BARREL!!!

artemisthemp

I really hope Atelier Meruru Plus will be a retail game and have Japanese Voice over

I really want to pick one of these games up i have a ps vita and ps3. Friend said this series is like an alchmey sim? To me it looks alot like Tales of series JRPG. What type of game is it like? And also which game should i start with?

りんごタルト＠エスカのアトリエ

I just want Japanese audio in Escha&Logy. I just think I can’t pay for a full-priced Atelier game without it. Maybe I’ll get it if it’s around half the price of first day release. Ayesha was a huge screw up by TK, I know they’ve been working with GUST for a while but for some reason, they aren’t aware of the Western fanbase wants the Japanese audio intact.

I really don’t think it’s “miscommunication” or “misunderstanding” — they really intended to release Ayesha without JP audio. They wanted to play safe by reducing VA licensing costs so if ever it doesn’t do good, they can just go with English VA and cut out everything else that HAD audio on the next game. I dunno if they do this to their Dynasty Warrior games, though. Smart, but dick move, TK.

Though Ayesha made good numbers, the message TK may get from this is “Hell, these guys will buy our Atelier games even without JP audio! The JP audio bunch is a minority after all!”, which is bad. NISA had LEs, JP audio, freebies and kept the fans happy.

tl;dr I’ll be awfully disappointed if Escha&Logy will not get dual audio or an LE. My dream of playing as Escha or Logy will forever be crushed.

Rogerrmark

I wonder if they”ll change the voices for Linca and Marion on the localized version of E&L.Seems so unlikely they”ll bother calling back the dubbers that worked for NISA’s localization.

Don’t care about duo audio, as long as the dubbing and audio mixing is done properly, that is always a plus for a game to go along with the experience. With that said as long as the game is good and Gust and Tecmo Koei know there are people elsewhere in the world who would like to play these games, we will keep seeing them over here. People who claim to be hardcore (J)RPG fans and japanese games in general need to stop being so nitpicky and complaining, that kind of attitude is what will make those developers and publishers of those niche titles not bother bringing the games to a wider audience outside of their region.

As a guy or as a girl? I’m abit too out of shape and hairy right now to wear a dress, lol.

Anime10121

Has to be a girl, I <3 women, so shaddup and put yo comment in a dress :P

JRPG-Love!!!!

I’ll continue to buy all of the Atelier games that Gust/Tecmo-Koei release, just to support them so that they continue to release games in my favourite genre with English translations (sub or dub, I don’t mind). I LOVE the art style in the Atelier-Arland series!!!!!!!!

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